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Doula Stats, 2026

We mapped the doulas of America — 9,002 listed birth, postpartum, overnight, and end-of-life doulas with 97,238 client reviews between them. Here's where doula support is easy to find, and where it isn't. (Journalists & bloggers: cite freely with a link.)

Doulas per million residents, by state

Every family welcomes babies, but doula coverage is wildly uneven. Listed doulas per million residents — a rough proxy for how easy it is to hire support for a birth in each state.

#StateDoulasPer million people
1 Vermont 39 60.1
2 Utah 178 50.8
3 Oregon 213 49.9
4 Idaho 92 46
5 Washington 353 44.4
6 Rhode Island 49 44.1
7 New Hampshire 62 44
8 Maine 59 42
9 Colorado 244 41
10 Massachusetts 292 40.9
11 Wyoming 23 39.1
12 New Jersey 331 34.8
13 Minnesota 196 33.8
14 Connecticut 121 32.9
15 North Carolina 351 31.8

Vermont leads with 60.1 listed doulas per million residents — roughly 2× California's rate.

America's doula-densest cities

Listed doulas per 100k residents, cities over 50,000 population with 2+ doulas.

#CityDoulasPer 100k
1 Sarasota, FL 18 31.2
2 La Mesa, CA 15 24.7
3 Summerville, SC 12 22.8
4 Bothell, WA 11 21.2
5 Bowie, MD 12 20.5
6 Santa Cruz, CA 12 19.2
7 Novato, CA 10 19.1
8 Aliso Viejo, CA 8 15.9
9 Asheville, NC 14 14.7
10 Frederick, MD 13 14.5
11 Lauderhill, FL 11 14.4
12 West Sacramento, CA 8 14.3
13 Longmont, CO 14 14
14 Duluth, MN 12 13.6
15 Watsonville, CA 7 13.6

America's most-reviewed doulas

Doulas earn far fewer Google reviews than shops or restaurants — every review is a family that took the time. These practices have the most.

  1. Blessed Beginnings Lactation, Breastfeeding Support & Infant Care — Franklin, TN ★★★★★ 5 (581 reviews)
  2. Baker Girls Beauty Relaxation & Recovery Retreat — Hinesville, GA ★★★★★ 4.9 (373 reviews)
  3. East Nashville Doulas — Nashville, TN ★★★★★ 5 (371 reviews)
  4. Birth First Doulas Portland — Portland, OR ★★★★★ 5 (321 reviews)
  5. Chicago Family Doulas — Chicago, IL ★★★★★ 5 (300 reviews)
  6. Birth Story Boutique Doula Services — Charlotte, NC ★★★★★ 5 (300 reviews)
  7. Midwest Doulas — Inver Grove Heights, MN ★★★★★ 5 (274 reviews)
  8. Chicago Family Picnic — Chicago, IL ★★★★★ 5 (262 reviews)
  9. Exodus Health Center — Kennesaw, GA ★★★★★ 5 (247 reviews)
  10. Birth You Desire LLC — Rockville, MD ★★★★★ 4.9 (238 reviews)

How common is overnight care?

1,425 of the 9,002 doulas we list (16%) show evidence of offering overnight or night-shift newborn care — in their own descriptions, on their websites, or in client reviews. It's the most searched-for kind of postpartum support, and one of the hardest to find outside major metros. Browse them in the overnight doula directory.

End-of-life (death) doulas, by state

A small but growing profession: we list 361 end-of-life doulas nationwide. States with at least one:

More on the profession: what is a death doula?

More data: the full stats suite

Deeper cuts of the same dataset — each with a downloadable CSV, free to cite with a link.

Methodology: doula counts from our continuously maintained national directory (public business listings, filtered to genuine doula practices); population = US Census 2024 estimates (state and city). Overnight and end-of-life indicators come from each doula's own listing, website, and client reviews. Counts reflect listed practices, not individual practitioners — group practices count once. Want the dataset for a story? Email us.